The Boy In Silver
by Anti-Social-Catterpillar
Summary: Artemis and the Hunters come across a child that was left in the woods beaten and bruised to die. They take him in and the boy finds a family among the man-hating hunters. Percy being raised in the Hunt, no pairings as of yet. I'm hoping to put my own sort of twist in this! Rated T for language and abuse in early chaps. First Fanfic. CHB will probably start around TTC.
1. Prolouge: Life of a Five Year Old

**Hi guys! Okay so this is my first fanfic... It's kinda dark at the start *cringe* sorry about that. So the CHB people will probably start around the Titan's curse, maybe? The updates will probably be slow because 1. The Muse strikes me about once every blue moon 2. Homework is starting to pick up (even though it's nearly holidays! Ugh..) 3. Andddd I'm super lazy. Some bits will probably be badly written and this might turn out way to cliché, tell me if its good but tell me if its bad too okay? Okay. Sorry for the length of this one but it's almost like a bit of a prologue. Bu whatever, it's 1 am.**

**Enjoy Guys!**

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Percy Jackson was used to feeling small. He felt small whenever Gabe shouted words at him that he didn't understand but was told to never use by his mama. He felt small whenever Gabe and his poker buddies came into his room and did things to him that made him feel dirty and uncomfortable and harassed and very, very sore. But he had never felt this tiny before, this _helpless_. His hands were tied together by the same belt that had been biting into the skin of his back not long ago. His leg was twisted at an unnatural angle from when it had been stomped on repeatedly and he was having trouble breathing from the pain in his chest. A rib or two were definitely broken from that bookcase that was pushed over onto him. Everything was hurting, so much pain all over, _painhurtingmakeitstophurtinghurtingeverythinghelpme._

He stared in horror at the scene in front of him, too frozen in shock and fear to even think of crying from the horrific pain he felt, his mother, the only person who had ever been there for him, who had ever loved him, was lying on the floor, a pool of crimson blood pooling around her, leaking from the wound in her chest caused by the kitchen knife in his step-fathers hand. It was then that he screamed. Loud and filled with anguish. His cries were cut off almost as soon as they started by a large, blood covered hand gripping his throat, fingers digging in hard. _Coveredinbloodmama'sbloodnomama! _

'You little shit!' The evil man sneered, 'What did I tell you about noise?' The boy chocked as his air supply was cut off, not even able to attempt to claw at the hands, as his were still tied firmly behind him. He was suddenly released and he crumpled to the floor, crying out in pain as he landed on his bad leg, black dots swimming before his eyes. 'I should just finish you now, nothing is left for you, _boy_, and nobody wants you.' He advanced once again, slowly, with the knife in hand. And Percy wished he _would _just kill him, his mama was gone, his dad had never been there and probably worst of all, the only person he had left to look after him was Gabe, his future didn't look very bright. He was better off dead.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and a timid voice called out, 'Is everything alright in there Mr. Ugliano? Mrs. Ugliano? I heard a scream.' 'Fucking hell,' He whispered, shoving a bloodied T-shirt, _Percy's_ T-shirt which had been torn off earlier that day when Gabe's poker friends came and took all his clothes and hurt him again, into his mouth as sort of gag, grabbed him by the hair and dragged him into another room to the fire escape. It was night-time, the moon shining up in the velvety sky, so no one was there to see the five year old child, struggling helplessly, his cries too muffled to be heard as he was dragged around the back of the building and trapped into the boot of the '78 Camaro which sped off in a different direction to the rest of the New York traffic, towards a destination only the sadistic man in the driver's seat knew.


	2. Chapter 1: An Unexpected Rescue

**So here's chapter two! Or one, depends if you count prologues as chapters, I guess... I was really surprised at how many views I got, as this is my first story on here and it was only like one chapter. But you know, everyone loves Percy Jackson :D Thank you guys so much for reading and stuff... Enjoy!**

It was a long ride and very painful for the child in the boot as every bump and sharp turn jostled his mangled body. His back was still bleeding from the belt and he had multiple broken bones. Even if he did not have all these injuries, just lying there hurt, as his backside was killing him as well from Gabe's friends. Stars and spots danced before his eyes. This had been going on ever since he can remember but he had never felt such pain before. Every tiny movement made him cry out, every car honking or revving of an engine sent him whimpering and cowering in fear. He was pathetic; he knew that, it had been smacked into him from young. Even though he was only five, he felt much older at times; he had been forced to grow up much too early.

The car screeched to a stop and he was flung to the side of the boot, a scream ripped from his raw throat but was instantly muffled from the gag in his mouth. The door opened and he was harshly yanked by his arms that were still tied together, from the car and flung a few meters away, his malnourished body making him easy to throw. Another scream burst out as his arm made an audible _snap _as he landed on top of it. Tears of pain and self-hate streamed down his cheeks, the sound of footsteps made him cower back as much as he could out of instinct. _Footstepsbadhurtpainpainpainmustbegoodmustbegood._

The man chuckled at the child's reaction, loving how much beautiful fear radiated from the boy. His eyes were huge in terror and blood gushed from multiple wounds. His grin dropped as he realised that the kid would be dead before he even started if he didn't make this quick. Sighing discontentedly, as if someone had just taken away his favourite toy, he grabbed the child's snapped leg and pulled him roughly along the rocky ground deeper into the woods that he had driven to. The child screamed and whimpered but the man knew that no one would be around to hear him, especially with the gag in his mouth. When the man found a small clearing he stopped, time for some _fun_, he thought sadistically.

He reached into his pocket and brought out the same kitchen knife he had plunged into his wife's chest. The blood on it had dried, _'but that's okay, 'cos new blood will be on it soon', _he grinned to himself, the child whimpered pathetically as he saw what the man held and tried his best to struggle away but his black flashed before his eyes as the man grabbed him by his broken arms and dangled Percy in front of him. He squeezed painfully and the bone snapped again in a different place. Percy screamed and screamed and found he couldn't stop, especially as the man brought the knife down on his stomach, he expected to be killed right then and there but what happened was even more excruciating. Words were being carved deeply into him, in intricate writing. As the blade ran over some old scars they re-opened and more blood trickled from his body. When the man finished he let out a grunt of satisfaction. 'How's that my little, whore?' He sneered down at the small boy. 'Now everyone will know you're my property if they ever find you're dead body.' Percy didn't know what _whore_ meant but he figured it wasn't a compliment. He instantly mentally punched himself for thinking such a thought, he imagined what Gabe would do to him if he ever found out what just went through his brain.

The knife was coming closer, he realised with horror that it was coming straight at his neck. Suddenly his body didn't hurt so much anymore. He could hear the blood pumping in his ears, see the blade glinting as it came closer, his body moved by its own accord, his good leg flying up and hitting Gabe in the stomach. The man grunted and the knife flew from his hand. Percy cried out as the blade pierced his collarbone and stayed there, the knife stuck in his bone. Percy didn't know how that was possible, but then again he didn't even know how he could still be alive from this pain, never mind _awake _and not passed out a long time ago.

It was only when Gabe was standing above him, blocking out the moonlight that he realised what he had just done. He had just _kicked_ Gabe. He knew he was going to die, he had been beaten almost to this point for trying to _sneak food_ from the kitchen, and needless to say he had learnt his lesson. 'You're gonna' pay for that, _boy_.' The man sneered and a hand flew out and wrapped around the handle of the knife, he somehow twisted it in the bone, and the child screamed so hard that he felt blood running into his mouth and soaking the T-shirt that was stopping too much sound from escaping.

Just as Gabe was about to pull the blade out a horn sounded, like one of those you hear in fox-hunting. Gabe's head snapped up and his hand went slack around the knife, Percy could not even gather the strength to lift his head from the forest floor but he caught a few glimpses of silver amongst the trees. The leaves rustled and a girl, sporting a braid of dark hair with a silver circlet balanced on top, wearing clothes of mainly silver. She was holding a bow with an arrow notched pointing at the monster standing above the child. A few more girls appeared behind her, including a young girl, looking to be around twelve years old, with auburn hair and silvery eyes. They all sported the same sort of outfit, besides the circlet, and all held bows with an arrow notched.

They all had their eyes and arrows trained on the man standing over Percy, The dark-haired girl with the circlet opened her mouth and without averting her gaze asked, 'Permission to kill, my lady?'

The auburn –haired child answered her in a steely voice, 'Granted.'

And the arrows flew.


	3. Chapter 2: Punishment of a Monster

**Two updates in one day. Jeez! I was bored, so I just kind of wrote whatever... so this chapter is not one of my best. It jumps all over the place and is a bit boring... But its 11:30pm so sue me.**

Whatever Artemis was expecting when she and her hunters set out for a midnight hunt, it was not that she would come across a mortal- was that even a mortal? It looked like some sort of walrus only that would be an insult to walrus's everywhere- with a knife in hand trying to kill a young child. Of course, being the Goddess of childbirth she harboured a certain love for children and seeing this made her motherly instincts come out from deep inside, where they had been buried for millennia. So she ordered her huntresses to fire at the beast, which was probably against every ancient law known to man, but in her mind and a lot of others, this was no mortal man, this was a _monster_ who _dared_ to harm a child, and monsters were her level of expertise.

It had started out a normal night, setting out from their camp with her lieutenant and best friend, Zoë, by her side and her huntresses behind them, the wolves immediately picked up a scent, Which was strange thing alone as even though these wolves were trained by the Goddess of hunting herself it would still usually take a while longer to find a lead. They took off faster than normal too, weaving through tries with a graceful stride yet they seemed in more of a hurry than other nights and barely waited for the hunters to catch up.

As the wolves slowed down and the hunters caught their breath, they became aware of a muffled sort of screaming sound and something growling out words though they were too far away to hear what was being said. Artemis was convinced that it must be some sort of monster -maybe a Cyclopes? - that had managed to capture a demigod that was on a quest or an untrained one that had run away from home. She swiftly unhooked the hunting horn that was clipped at her waist and brought it to her lips. The sound of the horn cut through the air and her hunters were immediately in formation, darting through the trees and stepping into the clearing.

What they had seen had surprised them, it was not a monster, not from Greek mythology anyway, but a mortal who was the living embodiment of everything Artemis hated. But what really set her off was when she saw what the man was crouching in front of. She could make out that it was a child but his body was so mangled and malnourished that she suddenly felt like Ares during a World War, thirsty for blood. She did not even care that this child was a _boy, _the thing she hated most in the world, the only thing her mind could comprehend was that _this monster had to die for what he has done. _Zoë stepped forward and asked, 'Permission to kill, my lady?'

Her voice was cold and unforgiving as she replied, 'Granted', and watched with satisfaction as each arrow of her hunters hit its mark. Around six to his genitals, four to his stomach and three to his face (one making a lovely squelching noise as it pierced his eye). Artemis, happy to rid the world of this vile creature, stepped forward, notched an arrow and let it fly and with deadly accuracy it pierced the air and hit the monster straight in the neck. He fell dead to the ground and Artemis stalked over so she was standing next to him and almost gagged from the smell radiating from him. When she had control of herself she swept a hand over him and sent a message to Hades, streamlining his application through to the Fields of Punishment, and if possible, Tartarus.

She averted her gaze to the child as the man's body disintegrated into ash and saw two eyes, huge with terror, staring back at her and her hunters. Without turning around she ordered them to put away their bows or daggers and they did without protest but she was sure they wanted too, they must not have seen the condition the boy was in since he had been hidden mainly by the man and now by Artemis, and still wanted to fire at him for being a boy. Her silver eyes studied the boy and what she saw made her want to be sick. They boy was thin, on an emancipated level from severe malnourishment, he was not wearing a shirt and you could see hundreds of scars crisscrossing all over the child's entire front, including his arms. His ribs were clearly seen and she could see more than a few broken, some seemed to be almost ripping through the skin. There was blood gushing from a wound in his stomach and as she looked closer she realised they were _words _carved in intricate writing, _'Property of Gabriel',_ carved so deeply she did not even want to know what it had done to his insides. What made her promptly turn to the side and be sick was not something that looked as bad as the rest from the outside, but it was so horrible she couldn't take it anymore. It was a silver kitchen knife buried into his collarbone almost to the hilt, it looked to have been twisted while in the bone and the amount of blood coming from it made her almost vomit again.

She stepped forward to help the child when he let out a muffled cry of fear, trying his best to cower away but a scream ripped from his throat but it sounded restrained and she realised that he had a gag in his mouth. A cry of horror slipped past her lips and she dashed forward and firmly grabbed his jaw. He whimpered in fear and tried to flinch away but her grip prevented him from doing so. She gently pried open his mouth and pulled out a once blue T-shirt that was now stained heavily with blood.

He cowered away from her as best he could but dark spots danced before his eyes and he cried out in pain once again. He squeezed his eyes shut and blinked them open again and started when he realised that the twelve year old that was next to him was suddenly around twenty. She shot him a worried glance and then turned to the girls behind her. They all looked confused at her worry until she stepped aside and they saw the full form of the boy. One of the younger recruits turned and vomited into a bush to her left when she caught site of the injuries.

Artemis knew she had to do something, they boy was losing blood fast and she couldn't understand why he was not unconscious from the amount of pain he was undergoing. She was sure he was a demigod, though she didn't know how she knew, but that didn't mean he would live much longer if she didn't get him back to their campsite and called her brother, Apollo. Under normal circumstances no boy was allowed near their camp, let alone in, except maybe Apollo (though she seriously wanted to ban him, he kept flirting with her hunters) and Hermes when he was delivering mail. But this was obviously not a normal circumstance, she couldn't just leave a child who looked no older than four, bleeding and beaten almost to death in the forest alone.

She held out her hand to Phoebe, who had most of the medical supplies and she instantly handed over the box. Artemis was not as good at this sort of thing as her brother, though she would never tell him that, but years of treating poisoned wounds and much trial and error had given her a pretty good idea of what to do. But she didn't have much time before he bled out; so she hastily wrapped some around his torso and wrapped her hands around the knife handle. She grimaced and quickly pulled it from the bone, cringing and whispering apologies as the child let out another pain-filled scream.

She had never felt so protective, so maternal before, but the sight of a young child, a _baby_, in such a state brought out a whole other side of her that she didn't even know existed. She was known throughout the Greek world as the cold, man-hating huntress who barely ever showed affection. This was true though, and that was what surprised her most when she started whispering comforting words down to him as she gently untied the belt that was restraining his arms, the fact that she could be like this to anyone, let alone a _boy_. The child cried out once more and she flinched as if she herself had been hit, she shrugged of her silver jacket and spread it out on the floor before gently lifting up the child, easily wrapping up the small body in the silky material. She was worried when he didn't make a sound but when she glanced down she realised that the child had finally passed out from the pain, and although that made her feel terrible that he had to go through that she was glad he wouldn't feel too bad for the next hour or so.

She turned to her hunters that were frozen in shock, staring at the poor condition of the young child. Artemis shot them a cold look, which was unlike her; she loved her hunters as her own family, but they were in an urgent situation and they were not helping by standing still. She gently passed the child to Zoë, who looked about to protest to holding a boy but wisely decided against it, and sent them another steely look.

'Take him to the camp and insure he is comfortable, if he is harmed you will be punished.

I must summon my brother'


	4. Chapter 3: Apollo Is Not Happy

**Hi Guys... This is more of a filler chapter, I guess, but I wanted to get something out to you all because of all your great reviews! You have no idea how happy they make me, seriously, I've never really shared my writing before to something like this and seeing all your great comments made me so happy I wanted to cry. I know, I know I need to get a life but I think this one's fine for now :) Enjoy then! Our holidays start soon so expect more updates!**

Apollo hadn't had this much fun in freaking millennia. Hephaestus had finally been annoyed so much from his constant beg- er… _convincing _that he had given in and designed an auto-pilot feature for his sun chariot, so now he could go into the mortal world whenever he wanted and chat up some pretty ladies. Much like he was doing now and _damn_ was he doing well! All the gals were just melting with his charms, talents, witty jokes and of course his overwhelming _hotness. _So you can probably understand his irritation when his twin sis' Artemis showed up.

As a rule, Apollo did not hate his sister, quite the opposite actually. He would do anything for her, but did she seriously have to come now? Right when he had all these beauties practically in a puddle at his feet? The auburn-haired woman let out a disgusted noise and Apollo managed to register the fact that she was her twenty-year-old form and not twelve like she usually chose to be before she reached over and promptly slapped him across the face, a hand flew to his smarting cheek and his fan-club let out a shocked gasp in unison, which would have been quite funny had he not been in this situation. One stepped forward, the alcohol in her system giving her confidence but Artemis had already grabbed onto her brothers arm, shooting one last deadly look to the group of tipsy girls and closing her eyes, teleported them to Zeus knows where.

Apollo was quite surprised actually; usually if Artemis where to ever show up during something like this she would go into full-on rant mode, screeching to the women – or sometimes men, when he's drunk he is not too picky- about self-respect and all that stuff that makes him yawn for an hour or so before rounding on him, beating him up quite thoroughly and yelling at him for seducing women and being a man-whore and bringing down their self-esteem and yada-yada. But this time she seemed to be in a hurry, being a brother, especially as a twin, he knew a lot more about Artemis than he cared to admit. He could see beneath her facades of coldness, understood what the glazed look of longing that she sometimes got in her eyes when she watched happy families laughing together meant. And right now, studying her silver eyes, he could see that underneath a layer of disgust at his actions she was panicking and worrying hugely about something and the annoyed, snappy comment that he had been about to say died on his tongue.

'Come brother, your healing would be much appreciated.' Her voice was cold but he could sense the underlying tone of vulnerability, something was _wrong_. He followed mutely, knowing that she would not enjoy him quizzing her, he could not even gather up some excitement that he would get to heal a Hunter and maybe then one would ditch the oath and go out with him, although he did not think that he could ever do that to his sister. Her stride seemed to grow quicker as she neared camp and Apollo had to jog to catch up to her. Soon he found himself at the camp-site but Artemis didn't stop, going directly to her own tent. Naturally, this confused the sun God as very, very few people were ever allowed in her quarters, but as she turned and sent him an impatient look when she realised he wasn't beside her anymore he quickly hurried to catch up.

Artemis kneeled to unzip the tent and he noticed that her hands were shaking… was she _scared_? What the Hades was in her tent? Had someone hurt her? Another Orion type perhaps? The thought made his hands clench and teeth grind together in anger, if someone _dared _to touch his sister he would murder them slowly and painfully, he promised himself. What he found was two of the Hunters kneeling next to a small mound swaddled in blankets made of fur from multiple beasts. He was really, really confused now, he knew that none of the Hunters where that small, unless it was a wolf pup, but then why would they have blankets?

The two girl's heads snapped up and they glanced almost fearfully at the goddess, which made Apollo's eyebrows furrow in concern, what was going on here? 'He is yet to wake, milady.' Said one, now identified as her lieutenant, Zoë Nightshade, worriedly. _'He'?_ It couldn't be a boy; Artemis did not let them within a fifty-foot radius of her camp without beating them up and turning them to jackalopes or some other fluffy creature, it had to be a wolf, it was the only logical explanation.

Crap, he thought absently, I'm starting to sound like Athena.

Artemis grabbed his wrist tightly and towed him forward as if she couldn't wait any longer to check on whatever the mound under blankets was. The two huntresses bowed their heads respectfully before leaving hastily through the tent flap. The hand on his wrist dropped and instead started to tug off and adjust a few blankets with the care of a mother making sure her child was comfortable. _Yes_, he thought, a crease forming on his fore-head at the tenderness in her eyes, _very much like that_.

She nervously fingered one of the last blankets before gently tugging it only slightly down, revealing a small, childlike face. His eyes flashed in anger, when he noticed the bruise creeping up its cheek and the dried blood that matted its hair, Apollo knew the injuries had not been inflicted upon the child by the Hunters, no bow and arrows or hunting knives could do that and they did not usually fight with their fists, so it must have been another, someone had _abused_ this child. What caused the gasp that escaped him a while later though was not any sort of injuries but the fact that this child was a _boy_. Gods, I'm slow, he thought to himself.

He was snapped out of this thoughts when he noticed the blood stain that was slowly spreading across the fur blanket, deciding to question his sister later, he pulled the blanket right off of the child and saw some hastily applied bandages that were now soaked in blood. He expertly poked and prodded around looking for any broken bones and frowned when whenever he touched him, the unconscious boy would flinch back and small whimpers would escape his lips though they were repressed, as if, even passed out, he thought something bad would happen to him if he made a sound. Apollo decided that the blood-loss was his first priority and with that he began unwrapping the bandages that covered nearly his entire torso. What he saw very nearly made him hunt down the person who caused this and kill him that instant. He almost wished he had kept the bandage on he saw what it hid.

'_Property of Gabriel' _was carved in cursive into the child's body and his eyes flashed in anger once again. Oh, he was so going to kill this guy. The blood was easily stopped by using a small proportion of his healing power and the wound lit up like a golden flame for a micro-second before turning back to normal. He frowned when he noticed that the scarring was still there, much fainter but not gone. He quickly moved onto the bandage up near the child's neck, cutting it off, he tried to take his mind off how young the child seemed to have such injuries by hardening his heart and mind as he did when he had to heal a patient in a way that may hurt. He poked and prodded around a bit more once he finished with the blood and quickly healed the broken bones, wincing at the sound of the boy's unconscious whimpers as they snapped back into place.

Apollo carefully checked over his back as well and felt like crying out when he saw that his pelvis was also broken and that the boy had obviously been raped multiple times in just the last few _days. _There was a large blood stain on the back of the boy's ripped trousers from the injuries that someone who had to have been much larger than the child had caused him.

There were so many scars, on his wrists and ankles there were ones from ropes that had been restraining him and much too many to count from whips and belts and knives. And he was very thin; he looked like a skeleton and had obviously not been fed much, if anything, for at least a week and a half. Apollo was concerned about this, that wasn't something he could fix and it was worrying him that he couldn't get rid of many of the scars either. He was also worried about the child's mental health, he couldn't fix that if it was bust either and someone who had gone through something like this had a very high chance of not coming back to what they once were.

He spared a glance behind him when he had done all he could for the boy to check on his sister only to find that she had left the tent, probably some time ago, but he had been too caught up in healing the child to notice. He sighed, his happy mood from earlier gone long before, and placed the child's clothes in a pile next to the medical supplies left there by the hunters. They were much too bloodied and ripped to wear now and the boy would be much more comfortable with nothing on to restrain his movement or to rub against his injuries that would require some more bed rest before they properly healed.

He picked up a lighter blanket made from goose-down and gently tucked it around him, mostly just to keep him covered if his virgin man-hating sister or her hunters came in and decided to kill him or something for being indecent, before ducking out of the tent door and zipping it closed behind him.

Time to interrogate his dear sister then, he supposed.


	5. Chapter 4: Bonding and Nightmares

**Hey people! Thanks again for your reviews, you have no clue how happy I am that you like this story. As for all you people that asked questions... I myself don't even know where this is going, I'm kind of just letting my fingers rove the keyboard and _voila_ you have another chapter. Next one will be better I promise/hope. Are my chapters to short? I kind of run out of things to type and just end it but this is the longest one yet so yay! **

** I can't remember your username now but you reviewed and said your friend showed you this? Well can you thank her for me? Tell her she is like one of the most awesome people ever? Thanks! Enjoy Guys!**

Artemis sat alone by the dying campfire, the moon shining above her. If she hadn't been in a situation such as this she might have smirked, it had taken her brother centuries of begging Hephaestus him to make an auto-pilot feature when all she had to do was bust out the puppy-dog eyes. Sure, she hated using them but the amount of extra time she got to spend with her hunters made up for that.

She had slipped away not long after Apollo started checking the boy over, muttering incoherent things under his breath. She couldn't take seeing how the boy whimpered and cowered back even in his sleep without being able to comfort him. What was happening to her? It was a boy for gods sake's, an extremely young, traumatised one he may be but her walls holding back her emotions that had been built up sturdily over the eons were turning to dust in the space of a night and she couldn't let anyone see how easily the child broke her down. He would have to leave; maybe she could take him to Camp-Half Blood, but even the thought of sending the boy who was practically afraid of his own shadow to a place where they pranked each other by summoning hell-hounds to chase them made her shake her head angrily at herself. She couldn't do that. But then what _could_ she do? Even though he was young he was still a male and she and her hunters were not big fans of that particular gender.

Her thoughts were broken by her tent being unzipped but she didn't move to acknowledge her brother until he was seated beside her. She formed her face to hide her inside conflict and instead let it become emotionless as she set her gaze on her blonde-haired twin. He was staring up at the stars, though his gaze was unseeing. She cleared her throat and his eyes, blue as the summer sky, snapped over to her. Apollo straightened his back and ran around through his already mussed up hair, she cringed when she noticed the blood that stained his fingers and clothes, _poor child_.

'So, it's nice out tonight, though I prefer the daytime.' He joked weakly, seeming to have lost his usual confidence. Her critical eyes studied him, making him nervous, he knew what she wanted him to say. 'He's… not good, I've fixed him up but the _evidence_, Arty, the scars…' She squeezed her eyes shut, barely even able to feel any irritation for that nickname, but nodded at him to go on. 'He needs to eat; for starters, he hasn't eaten much for at least a week or so…' he trailed of, taking a deep breath before continuing on, 'He had multiple broken bones but I have managed to heal them and the bleeding from the knife wounds, he didn't have any internal damage, thank gods, but the scars wouldn't go, many faded but…It's horrific Arty.' His expression suddenly looked pained, like he was about to admit to something hideous. 'And the worst part, I found out that he's been raped multiple times in just the last few _days_ and he's just so young.' A tear slipped from his eye as he buried his head in his hands, 'so young'.

Artemis's eyes also glistened with tears, something that hadn't happened since almost a decade ago when she lost a young hunter to a monster. She took in a sharp breath when she heard the last sentence and a cry of horror escaped her. Apollo's head snapped up and, brotherly instincts taking over had his sister wrapped up in a comforting hug, whispering reassurances into her ear. Suddenly the floodgates opened and a sob escaped her. She felt disappointed in herself for showing such emotion but she figured that Apollo was the only person she could ever be like this to and she needed this, to just let all her pain and sorrow she felt for the boy out.

It didn't last long and soon her sobs turned to sniffles and hiccups and she was enormously glad her girls had retired for the night a while before, she didn't want them to see her like this. Her brother separated himself for her and she found herself missing the contact, she hadn't ever felt so warm so loved than when she was with her twin, annoying as he can be. He rested his hands on her shoulders and looked her over worriedly, trying to gauge what she was thinking. His eyebrows furrowed and he asked curiously, 'This isn't really the right time but may I ask why you care so much, sis? What happened tonight?' And so, she told him of the night, how the wolves had seemed restless, how they had killed that mortal/monster, everything, though she excluded how she felt about the young boy, instead saying that what the man had done to him was similar to what had happened to her hunters only much more extreme and she supposed that made her feel protective of him. A plausible lie, she mused, but her brother had always been good at reading her.

And he obviously wasn't fooled by the way his eyes narrowed and an eyebrow rose inquisitively at her, though he didn't push, probably figuring that the maiden had been stressed enough for one night. He smirked slightly and opened his mouth as though to crack another lame joke but suddenly a scream tore through the air and they were immediately on their feet and rushing over to the silver tent that the boy was taking residence in for the time being. They unzipped the entry open hurriedly and were instantly by the boy's side; Artemis standing slightly away from the child's flailing arms and legs, he was obviously in the middle of a nightmare and she didn't want him to feel too crowded when he woke. Apollo gripped his arms, shaking him gently, calling for him to open his eyes. They snapped open and Artemis almost fell over by the shade that she could now see properly from the silver glow that her tent emanated. _Sea-green, swirling, ever-changing,_ they were her uncle's eyes.

_~o~_

_He hadn't eaten for at least two weeks, his mama had to work over-time to pay for Gabe's gambling habits and had to sleep over at her friend from high school who lived closer to the candy shop, she had left things in the fridge for him (he was very proud of the fact that even at only four he could figure out the microwave) but Gabe kept getting them before he could and even he if were to sneak something out he would be caught and hurt again, especially if Gabe's friends were over. There was a piece of pizza just lying there, uneaten and he was so _hungry! _They wouldn't miss just one piece right? His dainty hand reached up and quickly snatched the piece, flinching, expecting to be beaten for his disobedience but marvelled at the fact that nothing came. He cautiously nibbled at the end of his slice and suddenly he was gobbling it down greedily, nothing had ever tasted so good to the starved child. _

_A hand clamped down on his shoulder and he froze, a tiny bit of the pizza still left in his hand. 'What do we have here?' a voice chuckled darkly and Percy looked up to see Matthew's ugly face sneering down at him. He grinned sadistically and started steering the boy into the living room, Percy was too frozen in shock to struggle away and he soon found himself standing in front of Gabe and his buddies. There seemed to be more than usual and the way they jeered and looked his small body up and down made him want to run away and hide. 'Looky-here what I found Gabe, the bitch was eating our food.' In a second Gabe was standing on his feet, swaying from the amount of alcohol he had consumed and growling, 'you little fucker! What did I tell you about that? Huh?' He got up into the terrified child's face shaking his fists before backhanding the boy across the face; Percy was knocked almost across the room tears already streaming down his cheeks. 'Aw, look at that, the baby can't take a little game.' One of his buddies grinned. Percy didn't really understand this game, it wasn't fun and it hurt a lot. All the games Mama had ever taught him were fun ones that didn't cause any pain, like hide 'n' seek._

_Suddenly pain flared from his back and his head smacked against the wall, through his foggy vision he managed to identify a baseball bat being held by a guy called Paul. When did they get a baseball bat? Percy mused, probably a new update to Gabe's 'fun room' made especially for the things Gabe liked to hurt Percy with. Pain hit him again in his chest and he screamed out as a rib cracked, only to be hit across the face again. Right, no noise, no noise, Gabe doesn't like noise. He chanted in his head. He bit his lip and bared the blows that assaulted his frail body without complaint. A few whimpers and muffled screams escaping only occasionally. It's for Mama, he reassured himself, I have to do it or he'll hurt mama._

_A shadow blocked out the light and he saw Gabe standing there with a belt in his hand, grinning hugely. Percy screamed, forgetting his earlier mantra and struggled to get away, his kicking and flailing did little against the bodies of around seven fully-grown men. He screamed once again as the belt made contact with his skin, again and again and again…_

His eyes shot open, breaths coming in huge gasps, his sea-green eyes darted around and managed to make out the shadow of a man looming above him and the child's traumatised mind immediately saw Gabe, standing above him with whip in hand. He screamed and struggled to get away, his heart thumping in his ears. He saw the man's mouth moving but he couldn't hear a word he was saying, his mind told him to _getawaygetawaygetaway! _

Suddenly something icy cold was poured over him and his mind cleared, a strange strength surged through him, but the only thing he could focus on was that the man standing above him was not Gabe; in fact he had never seen this man before in his life. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, he had a strange sort of aura radiating a sense of power from him and he almost seemed to glow gold. He saw something move beside him and his eyes widened at another unfamiliar person, although he felt that he had seen this lady before, but his memory was hazy and he could only remember flashes from last night. He narrowed his eyes at the figure and noticed a bucket in her hands; she must have been the one to pour the water over him. Her hair was an auburn colour and her eyes were silver like the moon. He realised that somebody had been talking to him but he had been completely zoned out. He had to get away from here.

'Hey, you alright little guy?' The gold man asked, squatting down beside him causing the child to visibly cringe back. This guys aura of power pretty much rolled off him and he knew this man could hurt him if he did something wrong. 'Y-yes, sir'. He flinched at the sound of his own voice, it seemed too loud, he hadn't really spoken for a long time and his throat felt raw from all the screaming he had done lately. The man pursed his lips and the boy panicked thinking he had done something bad. 'I-I'm s-sorry, sir.' He apologised quickly though he wasn't sure what quite for. Better safe than sorry, he supposed. A small hand settled on his shoulder and he cried out, jerking backwards as if he had been burned. His eyes frantically looked around until he saw the silver-eyes lady standing with her hand still slightly outstretched, hurt flickered in her eyes for a second before returning to being emotionless.

The man sighed and a frown appeared on his face, which seemed really misplaced on the man, he looked like the sort that was constantly cheerful.

'It seems we have many things to talk about, kid'.


End file.
